Simplifying Scott
by brodie-wan
Summary: Spoilers for Ant-Man and The Wasp! Hope and Janet catch up over coffee and discuss Hope's feelings for Scott.


**Simplifying Scott**

It had been four days since Hank had returned from the quantum realm with her mother and the catching up has gone nearly 36 of those 84 hours. Hope Van Dyne was tired, in a euphoric, I've just being reunited with my mom after 30 years and don't want her to leave my sight, kind of way. Hank was there, too, but fell asleep in his leather chair about 18 hours in.

"So, tell me about Scott," Janet inquired, conspiratorially, drawing out his name for effect.

Hope smiled bashfully, adding a 'he's crazy and I'm crazy for digging his crazy', eye roll. The two women were hunched over the breakfast table in Hank's meager kitchen sipping espresso. "He's complicated."

Janet arched an eyebrow with a knowing grin and said: "Then simplify him for me."

"Okay," Hope began, taking in a clarifying breath. "He's a divorced, has a daughter, who lives with his mother and her husband. He's an ex-convict, brilliant thief and electrical-"

"-Your father already explained all that, Dear. Simplify him for me. Who is he to you?"

Clearly, the previous cleansing, or was it clarifying, breath had not done the trick. She took a moment and brought his face to her mind's eye and smiled again over the edge of her coffee cup. "He makes me laugh, Mom. He is funny and spontaneous, and so off the wall that's it hard to keep up with him. But it's fun trying. The truth is I've been angry for such a long time. Angry at dad. Angry at you. And, more recently, angry with Scott, too. It has been exhausting. But despite all of his faults, and there are a few, he completely disarms me."

"I imagine you didn't like that, at first," Janet added, deducting her daughter's defenses. "The loss of control."

"You're right, Mom. I didn't just not like it. I hated it. When Dad brought him on, it was just another slap in the face. Of course, I was too prideful, then, to realize why he didn't want me in the suit. At the time, it was just another way for him to reject me, to set me aside, even though I had every single skill necessary for the job."

Janet took a sip of coffee, nodding at Hope's confession. "How did you and Hank finally reconcile?"

"Scott."

A pleasant chuckle escaped Janet's lips. "I see. And, how is that?"

"It was pretty simple, actually," Hope said, remembering the brief exchange in her car outside Hank's three years ago. "He helped remove my blinders. He told me that he was expendable and I was not. It was a truth that dad had never spoken. I'm not sure I would have heard if he had. Which is why hearing it from Scott was such an eye opener. I resented having him at the house. Can you imagine having a stranger with a front row seat for our family drama?"

"Awkward," Janet said, as if she were fully aware of the present popular usage of the word.

Hope laughed. "Awkward, for sure. But, in hindsight, so necessary in a lot of different ways. He's the reason dad and I, and, now, you, are back together."

Janet fixed her daughter with a weighty gaze. "Is that what he is you, Hope? Glue?"

Hope was taken aback by her mother's bluntness, but not offended. She stared into her coffee mug for a moment. "It's a good question, but I don't think this is one of those shared traumatic infatuations. We started dating after what happened with Darren Cross. It was going really well. I had even met his daughter Cassie. Germany changed all that. I won't go over it again. Needless to say, Scott and I ended on that tarmac. We didn't see each other for two years. We couldn't. And, believe me, for a long time I didn't want to. And, even when I did, I couldn't."

"It was another betrayal," Janet said, genuinely. "He set you aside to go fight with Captain America. It may not have been a conscious choice, but he chose to walk away from you, even his daughter, to a certain extent, for what? A pointless battle that didn't solve anything in long run?"

"In retrospect, I guess it was pointless," Hope replied. "He was on the losing side. But, he did his time. There is something to be said for that. Now that all the dust has settled and we're together again."

"I have to commend you, Hope. For all his faults, and you are right, there a few, you appear to want to overlook them and concentrate on the positive."

"I'm not overlooking his past mistakes, I'm factoring them into the man I know; the man I care about more deeply with each passing day. He's not perfect. You ought to know that no man is. Scott is wise, but in an enigmatic way. He's brave, while affecting an insecure nature. He's a brilliant engineer, but acts like he's fumbling through it all. It's terribly maddening and insanely lovable all at once. As a father, he is so adorable, I want cry when I see them together. I don't cry, Mom. That is how disarming and charming he is. I guess, the bottom line is that he is becoming an honorable man, a hero even, and I want to be there with him."

Janet nodded her ascent, reaching across the table to pat her daughter's hand. "History has a way of repeating itself, in love, and in war. I wish only the best for you and Scott."

Hope's countenance fell. "Why did you mention war, Mom? Do you know something we don't?"

Janet shook her head and waved a hand dismissively. "I don't know why I said that, Dear. Perhaps, I was just remembering the day I lost you and your father. Don't worry yourself about it. Scott sounds like a good man. I look forward to getting to know him better."

Hope's lips parted into a weary smile. "Me too."


End file.
